Johann Elias Ridinger
is one of the most famous German engravers of
animals, particularly horses, hounds and hunting
scenes. He began his training in Ulm with the
painter Christoph Resch (170116), and
later studied under Johann Falch (16871727)
in Augsburg. He learned the art of engraving
from Georg Philipp Rugendas.

At the invitation
of Wolf, Freiherr von Metternich, Ridinger spent
threes years at the Riding School of Regensburg,
an experience which had a profound influence
on his work. His illustrations of equitation
are among his best known engravings.

Sometime around 1723,
Ridinger founded his own art publishing house
in Augsburg and began selling prints that he
himself designed and engraved. These included
series on hunting, breeds of horses, riding
manuals, wild animals and the hunting dogs shown
here.

After Ridinger's
death his sons Martin Elias Ridinger (173080)
and Johann Jakob Ridinger (173684) continued
to run the publishing house, issuing reprints
of the most popular series of their father's
work. We are not certain which edition these
prints come from, but based on the old handlaid
chainlinked paper they are certainly either
18th Century or early 19th Century. Each has
wide margins and the paper with its slight irregularities
is clearly old and hand made.

Several of the prints
have a watermark - one appears to be WAM*?EN
and a second **WL (Where we have used an * =
we cannot determine the letter).